I joined him and recounted both conversations down to the very last detail: everything she’d told me, everything I’d told her, including how I’d betrayed my stepmother.
Penn’s eyes widened at the revelation, and he rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s why you said she wouldn’t invade Mosswood Forest. Because it’s where her best friend was from, a friend her husband had executed.”
I nodded. “She wouldn’t want to see it destroyed, not like Elwen.”
Penn just looked at me for a moment. “She’s right, you know. Gabrielle. You can’t shoulder that guilt forever. Just like she can’t shoulder hers.” He smirked. “I can’t believe she wrecked his ship. That takes some guts to destroy the pirate lord’s most prized possession.”
I sat up straighter. His most prized possession.
“We have to go.” I jumped up and ran across the room, not waiting for Penn or answering as he called after me. I raced past the sleeping guard sitting outside our room and out into the cool morning air. I clambered across the rocky cliff, over the glass bridge, and to the sandy shores down below. Penn swore behind me, running to catch up.
“Are you going to tell me where we’re headed?” he asked as he finally jogged up beside me. “What in the bloody earth is going on?”
“There was no time,” I said between heavy breaths. “We need to get there before our sleeping guard wakes up and realizes we’re missing.”
The poor guard outside our room was probably still sleeping off the wine she’d drunk the night before. But it wouldn’t be long before she awoke, along with everyone else, and wanted to know where we’d snuck off to.
“Gabrielle mentioned the pirate lord’s ship, that she’d stolen the weapon from him and then damaged it beyond repair. She said she’d wrecked the ship in the place where the pirate lord always docked. So what better place to hide the weapon than the most obvious one?”
Penn jogged to keep up with me. “You think she hid the weapon in his ship?”
“He wouldn’t dare come back there, not after he betrayed her like that, betrayed her entire court. It would be far too risky.”
Penn stroked his chin. I could still feel that smooth skin pressing against my own last night. “Hiding the weapon in the most obvious place, which might make it the least obvious. That’s not a bad idea, Lilypad.”
“I know.”
We quickened our pace, the excitement growing between us. This could be it. We could have that weapon in our hands today. I could be back in Elwen, ready to face my stepmother. I glanced at Penn. Without the king of thieves.
Suddenly my excitement faded, turning to something like... what? Dread? Sadness? It was like I was already mourning the loss of him. Blood and earth. I needed to focus on this mission and nothing else. My people were what was most important right now.
It took another hour of walking, but soon we came upon the northern shores. Penn and I both looked at each other, then broke into a run toward the shipwreck in the distance. Waves crashed against the rocks with a promise of violence. The wind blew, letting out a harsh whistle. Gabrielle was right, it was dangerous here, and I couldn’t believe this was where the piratelord chose to dock his ship. He must’ve been a talented captain to be able to navigate these rough waters.
We stopped at the edge of an outcropping of sharp rocks. “How are we going to get onto that ship?” I gestured to it, parts of it decimated, the hull sticking straight up into the air, a huge crack in the middle that caused both sides to bow.
“I think using earth magic would be too unpredictable here.” Penn scratched his jaw, then pointed to a rope dangling down the side, the wind whipping it wildly. Of course.
He looked at me. “How are your climbing skills?”
I heaved a huge breath, remembering the countless vines Hammer had made me climb. Over and over and over. And I’d never reached the top.
He chuckled before I even had a chance to respond. “Let’s go.”
He leapt from rock to rock with expert precision while I stumbled behind him, feet slipping on the slick stones, water misting my face from the crash of waves below.
Penn stopped and turned, seeing me far behind him. No annoyance flashed across his face like I expected. Instead, he jumped back, landing right in front of me, balancing on the rock. A question in his eyes, he held his hand out.
I swallowed and grabbed it, remembering that hand pushing up through my hair last night. Penn turned and slowly led me to the ship, no snarky comments about how slow we were going, no snippy remarks about how I could’ve trained harder to prepare for something like this. He went at my pace, and I realized I wanted to trust him. So badly. But something was holding me back.
We reached the last rock, the rope swaying a few feet in front of us.
Penn faced me, my hand still in his. “I’m going to have to jump to the rope. Once I’m up on the ship, I’ll swing it back to you. Unless you want to wait here?”
“No,” I said. “I’m coming.”
Something like pride flashed in his eyes. “Okay, then.” He dropped my hand and leapt, grasping onto the rope with his strong hands. He pulled himself up, and now I realized how he must’ve scaled my castle walls so quickly. He did this sort of thing all the time, like it was no effort, even with the wind beating at him, the waves threatening to swallow him whole.
He climbed over the edge of the ship, the railing gone, blasted away by the ocean.
